Latest waste service update from York Council

Monday 15 June

We were unable to collect household waste from Granville Terrace in Guildhall due to blocked access. We’ll attempt to collect this waste on Tuesday 16 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

We were unable to collect recycling waste from the following streets in Copmanthorpe and Foxwood, due to operating under COVID-19 restrictions:

  • Drome Road
  • Temple Garth
  • Temple Lane
  • Corlett Court
  • Morrell Court
  • Rodgers Court
  • Vincent Way
  • Walker Drive

We’ll attempt to collect this waste on Tuesday 16 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

We were unable to collect garden waste from Chase Side Court in Dringhouses due to blocked access. We’ll attempt to collect this waste on Tuesday 16 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

We were unable to collect garden waste from a number of properties in the following areas due to capacity issues:

  • Acaster Malbis
  • Copmanthorpe

We’ll attempt to collect this missed garden waste on the evening of Monday 15 June, but may not be able to revisit until later in the week. Please leave your green bin out and we’ll get to you as soon as we can.

Latest waste service update

Trash Fail GIFs | Tenor

The following is the daily update on missed waste collections taken from the York Council’s web site.

We are aware, though, that several residents have said that some missed collections are not being recorded on the Council site. The most recent claims relate to missed recycling collections in Foxwood Hill.

If waste is left in your street then please report it by clicking here

If your waste hasn’t been collected within 48 hours of its scheduled time, then please let us have a photo – showing the situation on your street – so we can share it on social media and with responsible managers.

Wednesday 10 June

All scheduled household waste collections have been made.

We were unable to collect recycling from properties in the following areas due to operating under COVID-19 restrictions:

  • Derwenthorpe
  • Earswick
  • Heworth (Stockton Lane)
  • Strensall
  • Tang Hall (Burnholme)

We’ll return for these collections by Thursday 11 June. Please leave your containers out and we’ll get to you as soon as we can.

We were able to recollect outstanding recycling waste from Heworth and Bisphopthorpe. Missed recycling collections from Acomb will be collected on Thursday 11 June.

We were unable to collect garden waste from a number of streets in the following areas due to capacity issues:

  • Acomb (Wetherby Road area)
  • Heworth (Stockton Lane)

We’ll attempt to collect missed garden waste by Thursday 11 June, but may not be able to revisit until later in the week. Please leave your green bin out and we’ll get to you as soon as we can.

We were able to collect all outstanding garden waste from Tuesday 9 June.

More recycling put out today than Council could collect

Street cleansing issues also increase following holiday break

The Council says that the volume of recycling put out today on the west of the City exceeded the capacity of its collection vehicles. Their waste update website can be viewed by clicking here They hope to catch up tomorrow(Wednesday)

We’ve submitted numerous reports of litter across the area. This may partly be due to insecure recycling arrangements. 

Hopefully residents will help to get the area looking smart again by undertaken  some volunteer litter picks.

£352,475 spent on waste collection IT system

The York Council has agreed to spend over £1/3 million on an “integrated Waste Management System & In-Cab Solution” computer system for its waste collection operation.

Missed bin collections in York occur on most days

The contract was let in July to Webaspx

The system gets only a passing reference in a report being considered today on waste collection options.

There has been no report or business case presented to an executive decision session to indicate the expected benefits of the new computer system.

The waste collection service has been subject to considerable criticism recently with bins not being emptied on virtually every day of the week.

The main cause of the fall in service standards have been an aging and unreliable fleet. On some occasions the amount of recycling put out has exceeded the capacity of the existing vehicles.

The Council has remained tight lipped about when (or even if) new refuse lorries will arrive in the City.

Waste collection review in York

Un-emptied bins in Foxwood 2012
Against the background of chronic unreliability on refuse collections in the City, it was hoped that a long outstanding review would offer some hope of improvement.

The review report has now been published (click).

The report starts by saying “Decisions about waste collection methodology impact upon the specification of replacement waste vehicles, the replacement of which is imperative to the sustainability of the service”

In truth, new vehicles should have been purchased months ago. They weren’t and as a result breakdown are a major cause of the decline in reliability standards. The report offers little hope of early, decisive action.

The report concludes that separate food waste collection is not necessary. This is because food waste forms part of the anaerobic digestion process at the Allerton processing site. It is part of a process which results in power being generated from waste.

Similar arguments are advanced against the mixed collection of recyclables.

The report talks about a further review of recycling bring banks “to stop collecting the same materials as door step collection, but focus on materials not collected at the door step” The authors seems to be oblivious to the fact that many residents are forced to use the bring banks because of lack of capacity in the doorstep service.

“The current recycling arrangements are that Yorwaste process the recylclates at the Harewood Whin Material Recycling Facility and sell the products to market. The current gross cost of recycling is £725k however this is offset by the recyclate sales that total c£600k”.

The report fails to identify the “lead in time” for the purchase of new vehicles. There are no milestones.  It lacks any analysis of the number of missed bin collections or their causes. It fails to say when sustained improvement could be expected.

Altogether it amounts a bit of public posturing with no apology to the taxpayers who are being inconvenienced each day by vehicle breakdowns and trucks reaching their capacity limits.

Today’s failure report reveals that green waste wasn’t collected from part of the Heworth area because of inadequate “vehicle capacity”

Daily reports on missed bin collections can be found via this link click

More missed bins

Council needs to “come clean” about the extent of its resourcing problems

Another day and another raft of missed bin collections.

Mostly the failures are down to inadequate staffing, unreliable vehicles and full lorries.

Yet the Council has so far failed to say when replacement vehicles will arrive in the city.

…and there is a growing suspicion that other services are being depleted in a desperate attempt to plug the gaps in the waste collection service. One estate still has litter strewn around from collections which took place weeks ago.

No post recycling litter pick today (or for some time)
Many litter bins are overflowing

Latest missed bin collections in York

Its mainly Haxby that missed out on recycling collections today (inadequate vehicle capacity). Some might feel that putting on an additional or larger vehicle on the round would be the obvious solution to this long standing issue. The collections will be rescheduled for Monday. This also applies to missed garden waste in Pinfold Court and recycling in Bishopdale Way

Outstanding household waste collections will take place in Gower Road tomorrow (Saturday)

Rather awkwardly the Council has started delivery of their “Our City” newspaper. The, £10,000 a time rag, also includes a pull out supplement detailing the merits of the Council’s recycling processes.

Residents will not find any performance data indicating the number of recycling collections that the Council misses nor the timetable for remedying issues with driver recruitment, staff vacancies, unreliable vehicles or truck capacity.

No doubt some residents in Haxby will immediately hurl the leaflets into the recycling box – before remembering that it won’t now be collected for at least 3 days!

Die Horibilis

Been a horrible day for the Council with many more missed bin collections.

Recycling collections were missed in Haxby, New Earswick, Strensall and Wigginton.

Green waste bins weren’t emptied in Haxby, Wigginton and Strensall. The bins not emptied in Woodthorpe on Tuesday still haven’t been collected.

Household waste wasn’t collected in part of Holgate (blocked access).

Sources inside the Council point to continuing difficulties in recruiting staff including drivers. There has still not been any statement from the Council leadership about this issue or why replacement vehicles haven’t been introduced into the fleet.

Missed bin collections Wednesday

Recycling was not collected in part of Dringhouses today (“vehicle capacity issue”) and garden waste wasn’t collected from Muncaster (“vehicle breakdown”).

The Council also hasn’t caught up with delayed bin emptying from earlier in the week in Osbaldwick and Woodthorpe

It appears that the Council hasn’t yet placed an order for new vehicles to replace its chronically unreliable existing fleet.

According to a notice published today, a decision on a new “waste collection methodology” won’t be taken until 24th October. Even then it is likely to be several months before the Council actually joins the year long queue for new vehicles.

While refinements to waste management arrangements are needed if we are to recycle more, a greater sense of urgency from the Council leadership, in addressing current unreliability issues, is an essential first step.